By Daniel Harrison

The recent case of Enterprise Insurance Company Plc v U-Drive Solutions (Gibraltar) Limited [1] illustrates the reluctance of courts to intervene in arbitrations despite the parties agreeing otherwise. The court dismissed an attack on two procedural orders pursuant to sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (Act) because there was no award for the purposes of the Act and the consent of both parties was not sufficient to establish the court’s jurisdiction.

The Facts

U-Drive Solutions (Gibraltar) Limited (U-Drive) commenced an arbitration against Enterprise Insurance Company Plc (Enterprise) for breach of a distribution agreement. Enterprise claimed that no agreement between the parties existed and challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal on that basis before the tribunal and the court, which both dismissed the challenge.

The tribunal issued Procedural Order 10 ordering U-Drive to provide security for costs. When U-Drive failed to provide security, the tribunal issued a peremptory order compelling U-Drive to pay the security for costs and then directed that U-Drive must comply with the order and provide security within two weeks, failing which its claim would be dismissed. Within two weeks, counsel for U-Drive gave an undertaking to provide security, which was eventually provided seven days after the two weeks limit had expired.